I absolutely disagree. I had given up on 'being perfect' for a while and decided to just live. Everything in my life was a mess, especially my apartment. Worst of all, my code quality could have used some serious improvement, but I'd given up striving to be the best I could be, so I didn't bother to find ways to improve, I just did the same old thing over and over.<p>And then the company hired a programmer that was fanatical about code quality. It didn't take long to start learning better techniques from him and I started applying it to the rest of my life as well. I now have a new job, new apartment, and I'm constantly improving myself.<p>Was I unhappy before? Not really.. But I wasn't -happy-. I was just existing. Now, I enjoy improving things in my life every day. Looking at the difference from day to day and month to month, I get a feeling of accomplishment. I'm proud of the things I have and do, instead of merely existing.<p>So no, 'stop trying to be perfect' is not good advice to help someone be happy. Instead, convince them to actually work to make their life better, and fix the things they -can- fix, instead of worrying about the things they can't.<p>I'm not a religious person, but this is one of the best quotes for self-improvement I've ever heard:<p>"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Reinhold Niebuhr<p>Whether you are religious or not, you don't need God to give you those things. You can get there on your own if you try.
"Living in a society that floods us with unattainable expectations around every topic imaginable..."<p>Using advertising to <i>program</i> people to feel like they need material things (flashy car, big home, huge yard, latest gadget) to be happier has been a grandmaster move on the part of the elite to control average people in a very long running economic strategy. One of my nieces and her husband are the perfect example: they have a fairly high standard of living but if anyone they know gets something that they don't have, they try to immediately get the same thing. They have been <i>programmed</i> in a very real sense.